WHAT FACTORS CONTRIBUTED TO THE DEMISE OF ABUZZ?

Does this sound familiar?

"Instead of selling knowledge between strangers, Abuzz was
retargeted to facilitate the exchange of knowledge between people
within the same company. The Beehive software identifies
employees' areas of expertise so that it can then route questions
to the correct people. It's a bit like an intelligent FAQ that
can tell you whom to ask if it doesn't have the answer to your
question."

In 1998, that was how Abuzz was being written about and spoken of by its founders. "A pharmaceutical company might use Beehive to
tie together their worldwide team of researchers," suggested CEO
Andy Sack. To help ensure that people are willing to part with
their hard-earned knowledge for free, Sack said, "We capture all
the data necessary for incentive schemes, whether it's a free
dinner or frequent flyer miles for people who contribute the
most."

Now wouldn't that be nice? 1,000 interactions and you get a trip
to Hawaii.

The flip side was that the most helpful people needed to be
identified. "Beehive also keeps data on a users' reputation,
based on how their answers are rated by other users. That
information can be used at evaluation time."

Ratings! A-ha!

Abuzz was not constructed to be a chat room. It was meant to be
a way for experts to share information. If you were scanning a
long list of answers, one marked with 3 "valuables" would stand
out, and make it easier for you to find the information you
wanted. If you were trying to remember the author of an
important paper about gamma rays and were directed right to it,
would it matter to you if the answer was given by George or his
clone, George?

"What is the correct torque setting for the cylinder head bolts on a 1972 Chevy Nova with a 350 c.i. engine?"